WomenCinemakers vol V WomenCinemakers vol V | Page 50

New
Directors
Edition.
Christine, tell us
about your trajectory as a
filmmaker. What inspired you
to express yourself in this
medium?
Christine
Scherwood
Lashes (UK, 2015)
To wrap someone up into a new
world, to a new story in just a few
moments is rather exciting. I
always liked the idea that it's not
the length of time you're in
someone's life that can have the
most impact, it's what you do
with your time that matters.
Pound for pound, some of the
most impactful films I've seen
have been short films. The short
film format has been a great
vehicle to develop a discipline
for storytelling. Very much
looking forward to continuing
that drive, discipline, and
passion into feature films.
When did you get in touch
with Andrew Lloyd-Jones's
short story for the first time?
In Autumn of 2012 is when I
came across 'Feathers and
Cigarettes' by Andrew Lloyd-
Jones on Fish Publishing's site.
The story instantly spoke to me
and I knew I had to bring it to life.
Andrew and I met around
Christmas time. I had just
recovered from the flu, and with
cinemakers// 40
my voice barely audible, I
pitched my vision. Luckily, even
through my raspiness we shared
the same vision and 'Lashes' is
the result.
The characters in Lashes
neither want to nor can
represent
anyone
but
themselves. You refuse the
traditional
kinds
of
dramatization of contempo-
rary cinema: throughout your
film you find the most direct
way to capture Ashes's raw
feelings. Can you introduce
our readers to the way you
conceive your characters?
Adapting a short story, I did look
to the wonderful characters
Andrew created as the main
framework. Ashley is trying to
find herself as many of us had
at sixteen years old. No matter
how hard she tries however, her
authentic self kept shining
through.
Finding
clear,
distinctive personalities for each
of the characters was crucial for
me, and one of the first things
when structuring the adaptation
was
creating
my
own
backstories for each of the
characters. These helped create
the blueprint of each of their